


The Forest, the Battle, and the Haunted

by Galdr



Series: Tales of the Mystery Dungeons AU [8]
Category: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Explorers of Darkness & Explorers of Sky, Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, Tales of Vesperia
Genre: Gen, Swearing (just a warning)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 02:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19802443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galdr/pseuds/Galdr
Summary: Yuri and Flynn are in the Oran Forest, minding their own business. When a situation becomes apparent, they naturally get involved....But it doesn't seem to bode well.





	The Forest, the Battle, and the Haunted

**Author's Note:**

> Just a fair warning: this will have descriptive violence and fighting in it, sooner or later. I think it's a bit typical considering this is the Tales series and Pokemon's battles are watered down violence in general (unless you've seen Origins--oooh boy). There's also swearing, too. I've tried to keep them toned down though.

The Oran Forest was a pretty nice dungeon, Yuri would admit to himself. It seemed peaceful despite the constant dangers of Bug and Grass type Pokémon roaming throughout the place, with the occasional Starly, a Normal and Flying type Pokémon that Flynn mostly dealt with when they encountered one. There was plentiful of food items for the taking, mainly Oran berries. Granted, this _is_ the _Oran_ forest. Besides those were an assortment of other berries and Apples, too. It was practically like a food haven. To add to the coolness of the dungeon, Yuri was getting some experience under his belt, too. Well, his metaphorical belt, but, you know, _details_.

In addition to the discovery part of the mystery dungeon and its oddities like the rest, Yuri was told that the reason for the mysterious pressure he felt when entering a dungeon was due to the fact that, previously, time had been “out of whack”, being put into layman’s terms. The dungeons were sporadic mutations of area, although this was according to Flynn’s personal theory rather than what he’d told him two days ago. It was some mysterious force, though the Pikachu had no idea what to really call it except that. Yuri didn’t bother with any correct terminology about it and accepted Flynn’s description.

Things had started out weird in the morning when they woke up, ate a quick breakfast, broke their camp down and started on the dungeon. Yuri had kept a close eye on Flynn, who had been relatively silent throughout. Sure, the Pikachu had been inside the tent when Yuri eventually got up again, but the fact that he had overheard Flynn last night still unsettled him. For the time being, he had pushed the incident to the back burner of his mind, allowing him to fully focus on advancing through the dungeon and its enemies. The moment they had stepped into Oran Forest, Yuri’s sensors had activated yet again, just like with Lush Prairie.

The enemies they found had been a tulip looking Pokémon that walked on legs—an Oddish, Flynn described—and another kind of Burmy that had a pink cloak instead of the leafy looking one like last time.

His new Force Palm attack wouldn’t do much to either as Flynn explained, in as quick of detail as possible as the battle had started, that Bug-types and Poison-types resisted Fight-type moves. The Oddish was part Poison and the Burmy was a Bug-type. How fun, right?

Still, Yuri wasn’t one to sit on the sidelines and let Flynn handle everything despite how strong the Pikachu was. Even if Flynn _could_ handle it, Yuri was capable of taking care of himself. He had gone for the Oddish and intercepted its attack on Flynn.

All in all, that battle had taught Yuri a lesson: never throw oneself in the middle of an Absorb attack.

“Ah, another Apple,” Flynn’s voice grabbed Yuri’s attention and the Riolu turned to him. Flynn was in motion of bending down to pick up the apple he had found. He easily brushed off any dirt it acquired and placed it in his bag. This was about the fourth one he found, Yuri thought to himself. “We could use that for a pick-me-up snack later on.”

“Yeah,” the Riolu replied casually. He’d found enough foodstuff in this dungeon to last him a long while. He didn’t know if his bag could carry any more things if he found them. “How much longer until we’re out of here, do you know?”

“Hmm,” Flynn murmured and focused on his intuition, being quiet for a few seconds, “It shouldn’t be too long from now. We’ve made decent progress so far without too much incident. With your ability to sense enemies, we’ve been avoiding most of the confrontation with them. Shouldn’t be that much longer,” Flynn answered. Yuri nodded slightly and paced after the Pikachu when he strode forward through another walkway of the dungeon.

“In my honest opinion, we should be getting out of here by at least the mid-afternoon,” Flynn spoke again as they turned a corner. They were nearing another room when Flynn was suddenly jerked back by Yuri by the arm. The latter had a firm paw on the Pikachu’s arm, keeping the Electric-type from going too far. Flynn turned his head in confusion at the sudden motion and noticed that Yuri’s eyes were red once again and his sensors had risen. Knowing what this could be, Flynn straightened.

“…Is it another enemy, Yuri?” Flynn whispered and received a silent nod as a response.

“…Yeah, I can sense them,” the Riolu replied just as quietly, looking around. Flynn noted that his eyes apparently glowed a little as he seemed to focus on what was ahead. Yuri’s gaze began scanning the area around them until they seemed to linger towards their left. “…It’s coming mostly from that way,” he added next. It was just a wall of bushes and trees that obscured their vision. They couldn’t exactly go through them; they’d have to find a way around.

“We could probably try another path to avoid them if you want,” Flynn suggested. Yuri released his grip on his friend but kept his focus on the direction he was facing.

“We _could_ , but there’s…something strange going on.”

The Pikachu tilted his head in curiosity, “How do you mean?”

“I mean,” Yuri crossed his arms as he kept staring, “I can see there’s more than just one enemy. There seems to be three of them all gathered in the same area. It looks highly suspicious that they’re all together in one spot.” Flynn wasn’t sure how else to continue and even before he could utter another word, a scream broke out.

**_“Ahh! S-Someone! He-help me!”_ **

Startled, both Pokémon glanced to each before taking not a second longer to get moving. Someone was out here and needed help! “Someone’s in trouble!” Flynn exclaimed, already on all fours to accelerate to his top speed. Yuri wasn’t falling behind, keeping up well as he ran alongside his friend. “Yuri, can you see-”

“I already have! They’re the three figures I saw earlier!” Unlike the last couple of times when he sensed enemies nearby, Yuri wasn’t experiencing a mind-numbing migraine. Sure, it was inevitably going to come like a raging comet, but at the moment, he was safe from its adverse effects. His sensors were still on alert and he followed the Aura of the trio he could still spy from his current location, never taking his eyes off of them. “Flynn, this way!” Yuri motioned and turned another corner, the Pikachu urgently following after.

When they got there, it was in another room of the dungeon. The pair of friends spotted the ongoing commotion and they nearly couldn’t believe their eyes: two, mean looking Pokémon were standing tall over a smaller Pokémon, with one of them holding the smaller one by its tail.

“There’s no one around to help you, kid. You can scream all you like, but it’s only us and the feral Pokémon here,” one of the bullying Pokémon said with a condescending chuckle. It was the one holding the small, squirming Pokémon in its hands; it was a green looking monkey creature with black eyes and a long tail, which at its end seemed to be shaped into leaf-like shapes.

“If you don’t be quiet, we’ll have to permanently cease your wailing and I’m sure you don’t want that, eh twerp?” The second bully hissed out, causing the smaller Pokémon to squeak in fright and halt its attempts to free itself. This Pokémon was a bipedal grey dinosaur with a drill-like horn on its nose.

The squealing small Pokémon was a white little creature that resembled a squirrel with orange cheeks, spikes along the end of its tail and a pink stripe going from its head down to its tail. It had short, stubby arms and legs and looked no bigger than Flynn, seemingly smaller than the Pikachu in question.

“P-Please! Let me go!” The small squirrel Pokémon pleaded, having a small voice that was akin to a child’s, but it was denied its freedom by the green monkey’s firm grip on its tail.

“No can do, brat. You’re coming with us.”

“N-No! I don’t want to! H-Help me! Anyone!”

This was it. Yuri was already seeing red and before he could think, he jumped right into action. “Yuri-!” Flynn’s call to him fell on deaf ears as the Riolu leapt from where he’d been and ran towards them. So much for a plan of attack. Flynn sighed and then dashed after him to keep up.

“Hey, jackass! Let the kid go!” Yuri yelled angrily, already getting into his fighting stance. He’d pummel them if he had to. The two bullies turned their attention from their hostage to the one who dared to speak out and spied the Riolu.

“Who are you?” The green monkey, a Simisage, asked. Upon closer inspection to its voice, it was female.

“Doesn’t matter who I am. I’ll say it one more time. Let the kid go.”

Narrowing her eyes, Simisage and her partner leered at the interloper and his demands. Who was he to interfere? Wait a minute, was he perhaps an Exploration Team? All on his own? Was he out to get them? They _were_ crooks, of course, but no one should have known they were even here in the first place. They’d been hiding their tracks very well, after all! This scrawny looking Pokémon couldn’t be…

“You think we’ll listen to you, chump?” Her partner, Rhydon, said in a haughty tone, “You’re nothing but a joke. You should get out of here while you have a chance, runt. You’re no match for us, the Brutal Bang Gang!”

Yuri rolled his eyes at this but never once let his gaze falter. If these idiots weren’t going to listen to reason, then he’d beat them senseless. With his fists, as he normally did!

“Release the child, _now_ ,” another voice interrupted and the pair of crooks turned their eyes to see yet another interfering Pokémon emerge from the bushes. It was a Pikachu—one with odd blue eyes rather than brown like many had, but the specifics didn’t matter. “You heard my friend, do as he says!” Yuri was ever glad Flynn was here with him; he wasn’t sure if he could take on two of them yet.

The small Pokémon opened his eyes and saw the two other Pokémon that arrived and hope swelled within his little heart Were these two going to save him from these bullies? He gave them pleading, hopeful glances, to which the Pikachu and Riolu noticed easily.

“How heroic of you chumps to get involved, but this doesn’t concern you at all,” Simisage warned, “If you won’t leave then we’ll have to beat you into a pulp!” She then tossed the child Pokémon to the side, the kid hitting his head against the ground as he bounced once off the ground. Yuri and Flynn tensed and grew angrier at the mistreatment of the kid and Flynn got ready with his cheeks sparking with electricity. The Thorn Monkey Pokémon braced herself for a fight, “You wanna save the kid so bad, then let’s fight it out! You ready, Rhydon?!”

“Sure am, Simisage!” The burly dual type pronounced loudly, grinning as he set his eyes on Flynn, “The little rat’s mine! I’ll tear him to shreds!”

“Fine by me! Let’s get this over with and deal with them! They could be with an Exploration Team!”

Both Yuri and Flynn didn’t deny that accusation—let these idiots think they were for now. After all, the Riolu could easily sense their uneasiness at the presumption that they were an Exploration Team and were coming after them to arrest them. So long as neither of the two gave it away, they wouldn’t reveal themselves.

“Yuri, we have to be careful of the Rhydon,” Flynn hurriedly said as the big, burly dinosaur Pokémon was getting prepared, “He’s likely the strongest of the two, but you have a type advantage over him.”

“I do, eh?”

“Yes. Fight-type moves are effective on Rock-types! My electric attacks won’t do any good against him since he’s also part Ground-type, and those can withstand Electric-type moves. I won’t be able to do much against him.”

“Alright. Leave him to me. Just deal with that monkey thing.”

“Simisage.”

“Yeah, that. Whatever she is.”

Flynn didn’t bother to sigh as their opponents were coming right for them! The Pikachu quickly accelerated and launched himself right at Simisage! She immediately charged up a green, spherical looking attack and then launched it directly at Flynn; it was Energy Ball, a Grass-type special attack! Flynn braced himself as he continued onto his path and spread energy through his body and to his tail. It shined with a glint and hardened into that of a metal coating and he twisted so that his tail would swing forward! Like a baseball being pitched at him, he slapped the Energy Ball away using the surface of the metal coating on his tail! That had been Iron Tail!

‘ _Damn, he knows Iron Tail. That’ll be bad news for Rhydon if he decides to switch opponents,_ ’ Simisage thought. And yet, she knew the _real_ threat was the Riolu, who could best her partner with his Fight-type attacks. ‘ _But I need to get rid of that Riolu first! Rhydon’s strong and has a strong hide, but that little punk could break through it with ease. Once he’s dealt with, we’ll team up on that little rat together._ ’

Solid with her plan, Simisage quickly redirected her attention to the Riolu and launched another Energy Ball his way! Just as she did this, the Pikachu was quickly upon her, slamming his Iron Tail right into her. She held up her arm to block it and the two were at a stalemate.

“Your fight’s with _me_!” Flynn exclaimed, pressing forward and then kicked away to dodge next attack, which had been a regular attack to ward him off.

“Hmph, we’ll see about that, you rat!” Simisage growled right back.

Flynn’s cheeks sparked again as his tail returned to normal, building up power for a powerful Thunderbolt attack in the near future. In another burst of speed, he went back into the fray charging for Simisage, using Quick Attack to augment his agility! She easily kept up, given she was a fully evolved Pokémon, and lunged for him. Flynn was about to smack his head into her using the aforementioned move but she was quicker, tripping and damaging him with a kick so low that it swept him off the ground. That was Low Kick! Flynn grunted and rolled on the ground but rolled to his feet again. He hadn’t seen _that_ one coming.

‘ _So she has some type coverage a bit. That means she must have been born with that move. I need to be careful. I’m lighter than her so that attack didn’t do much, but it could compound on top of her other techniques,_ ’ Flynn thought as he kept his gaze locked on his opponent and being on edge. ‘ _I just have to dodge it and then go for her arm like before!_ ’ If he could weaken her there, then he’d have a shot!

‘ _The little rat’s tough. I forgot Pikachu are lighter; my Low Kick didn’t do much to him,_ ’ Simisage thought again as she never let her foe out of sight, ‘ _I’ll have to get him sidetracked._ ’ She still had to get that damned Riolu, too. Grinning, she taunted the Pikachu without using that move, “Come on, runt. Is that the best you can do? You’ve hardly left a scratch!”

Flynn didn’t fall for the bait—not much, anyway—given she didn’t invoke any true irritation out of him. With her not using the move Taunt itself, the words hardly had much effect on him. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t follow up, though.

“I assure you that’ll you’ll feel _this_ next!”

Flynn dashed for Simisage again with Iron Tail active. Rather than jumping and lunging at her like last time, he went lower and aimed for her legs! Eyes a bit wide from the switch up, Simisage braced for impact and aimed a well-timed Low Kick to counter! The two were at a stalemate until they broke apart. Simisage recovered first and kicked at Flynn and expecting him to be punted away like a ball. Though it was painful, Flynn held his ground and retaliated by punching Simisage with an uppercut, knocking her back.

The female Thorn Monkey narrowed her eyes and used Energy Ball again while in close range. Amazingly for Flynn but annoyingly for Simisage, he evaded it by nimbly jumping over the attack and slammed into Simisage with a quickly charged Iron Tail! Angered, she snapped back swiftly and grabbed his tail, causing him to yelp in surprise, swinging him around and throwing him like the Seismic Toss technique. Flynn flipped in midair and righted himself, grimacing as he rubbed the base of his tail. That had hurt.

‘ _She’s pretty fast, but I know I can be faster,_ ’ Flynn thought, ‘ _Although I wish I kept the Agility technique. We wouldn’t be in this predicament right now if I had it. No use crying over spilled juice—I’ll just have to push myself!_ ’ Spotting Simisage gaining ground towards him, a thought entered his mind, ‘ _I can use one of the Wands to hopefully distract her. Why not use them if I have them, after all?_ ’

In a hurry, Flynn fished into his bag and pulled out one of his wands, which actually resembled a tree’s branch with a single leaf on it. The only difference was that the tip of the branch curled in like a swirl and it had magical capabilities imbued into it. He waved it immediately and watched its effects; there was a blast of magic that hit Simisage and blasted her backwards. That was the effect of the Blast Wand.

In surprise of an attack that she hadn’t seen coming, Simisage yelped with a cry and quickly threw her arms up over her face in defense. The magic of the wand had hit her, pushing her back and nearly making her fall. Once the smoke of the magic faded, she leered angrily at the Pikachu. She was definitely _pissed_.

“Simisage!” She heard Rhydon’s concerned cry.

“I’m alright! Don’t get distracted!” Simisage called back to her partner and got into a stance, glaring at Flynn, “Okay midget. It’s time you got _yours_!” Simisage yelled and began running towards him!

The item dematerialized as it was used and Flynn quickly jumped into action, racing for his opponent to meet her head on, almost literally. Simisage lunged first with a furious punch just as Flynn attempted a punch himself. Their fists met in a clash with neither truly overcoming the other.

“You’re dead meat, rat,” the Thorn Monkey hissed.

“Not if I can help it,” Flynn hissed back.

The two broke apart again and began sizing each other up for another round. As the ongoing fight between Flynn and the Simisage was happening, the fight between Yuri and the Rhydon had just begun!

“Your friend hurt my pal! I won’t forgive that!” Rhydon snarled, leering at his foe, “I’ll bust your head open for her sake!”

“Whatever, jerk. That’s _if_ you can hit me,” Yuri taunted back, gearing up for a fight. As was protocol with him, he smirked, “Heh, you’re probably way too slow to hit me anyway.”

The taunt seemingly worked as the Drill Pokémon’s eye twitched in irritation. “That’s it! I’ll pound you flat, punk!” Rhydon yelled as he charged for the Riolu, intent to flatten the Fighting-type very clear. He was slow to start up but gained incredible speed, rushing at his foe like an unstoppable train!

Yuri grimaced and rolled out of Rhydon’s warpath. ‘ _Jeez, he’s pretty fast for a big guy like him. I’d have thought his size would’ve slowed him down, but obviously not. Guess I’ll take back my earlier comment about him being too slow._ ’ He quickly got up and raced after his foe, a bluish aura emanating from his right palm, ‘ _I’ll hit him with this from behind!_ ’ Once he was close to the brute, Yuri slammed his palm directly into Rhydon’s back, forcing the Drill Pokémon forward even further!

Rhydon roared in pain from the super effective hit, but since he had stronger defenses, he wasn’t out of the fight yet! The attack allowed him to slow down and spin around, facing his opponent once again. “You little punk!” He snarled, gearing up for another charge, “Take this! RAAAAAAHHH!”

Before Yuri could expect it, Rhydon’s next charge was _even faster_ than last time, the Drill Pokémon slamming into his smaller frame with almost all his weight! This was the move Take Down!

Predictably, considering he was much smaller than the evolved Pokémon, Yuri was practically tossed aside, bouncing off the ground twice before he came to a stop, groaning in pain. Damn, that had _hurt_!

“Yuri!” He heard Flynn’s worried call but the Pikachu was too occupied to really help him. He didn’t want Flynn to get involved anyway—he’d settle this on his own.

“I’m fine!” He called back as he slowly wobbled to get up. Ugh, it felt like he’d been hit by a boulder. Then again, with Rhydon’s typing, he sure felt that wasn’t too far from the truth. He knew there were some broken bones in his body, but he couldn’t give up. That kid was in trouble and he had to keep fighting! Palms up and shifting into fists, Yuri glared at the Rhydon and got into a fighting stance. “Alright, you got a shot, now it’s my turn!” He then lunged at the Pokémon, going for his top speed. 

“Come on!” Rhydon shouted and charged as well!

Both Pokémon threw themselves at another, intent to knock the other down. Rhydon swung his left arm back and charged it with ice and slammed it forward as Yuri thrust another palm at the same time. The Ice Punch delivered by Rhydon clashed with Yuri’s Force Palm, which was gaining a little more ground due to the type advantage of the latter’s move. Despite the upper hand that he had, Yuri wasn’t as powerful as his foe, who was an evolved Pokémon against his current stage. Rhydon took plentiful advantage of this fact and rammed his closed fist through, punching the Riolu right in the face and then at his exposed side! Yuri attempted to block with his arm but it snapped back agonizingly, cracking from the force Rhydon used. With a shove from the larger Pokémon, Yuri was sent spiraling back down once again.

Yelping in pain, Yuri landed painfully on his already broken right arm, the bone snapping out of its socket as he bounced once on the ground. As he moved to sit up and eventually stand, he winced and growled angrily, using his left to hold his injured arm. ‘ _Oh, man, this isn’t looking too good,_ ’ he thought as he struggled to stand, panting a bit, ‘ _This guy is tougher than he looks. My arm’s no good now, so I can’t use Force Palm with it. I still have my other one, though._ ’

But he knew he shouldn’t risk hurting it either or he’d be out of luck…

‘ _Damn! What the hell can I do? Force Palm’s all I know! But that_ can’t _be it! I have to have known something else!_ ’ He felt like he was running out of options, with nothing else in sight for him to really use. But, was that really it?

An idea immediately hit him. ‘ _Wait a minute. Those stick and Orb things that Flynn put in my bag… What were they? Wands and Wonder Orbs? I could use those!_ ’ Coming for him was Rhydon again, making Yuri slightly panic. ‘ _Uh-oh, here he comes!_ ’

“Gonna stand there, shrimp? Hahaha! Works for me! Get ready to get smashed!” The bulky Rock and Ground-type shouted, thundering towards his foe with the intent of running him over. Yuri braced himself and quickly fetched into his bag with his good arm and grabbed at a random Orb.

 _‘Whatever this is, I hope it works,_ ’ he thought before announcing himself aloud, “That’s what you think, dumbass!” Taunt finished, Yuri smashed the Orb in his paw, waiting for whatever its effects would do—he hoped it wasn’t one of those Wonder Orbs that would backfire on him like Flynn once described. The magic in the Orb took effect almost immediately; once Rhydon was close enough, a magical force suddenly blew him back like an invisible punch, knocking him down! It appeared to do a lot of damage!

 _‘That’s… the Lob Orb Flynn mentioned,’_ Yuri noted and ran towards Rhydon to hopefully finish him off, ‘ _This is my chance!_ ’

Though she was still fighting the Pikachu, Simisage glanced briefly towards the fight between her partner and his enemy. Her eyes widened when she saw Rhydon was down and the Riolu was aiming for another Force Palm to finish him. ‘ _No, Rhydon!_ ’ she panicked and grew angry. No one messed with her partner like this and got away with it! Hearing the sound of movement coming at her, Simisage ducked under the Pikachu just as he attempted to hit her with a direct Quick Attack and used the opportunity to smash him with a head-butt to throw him off his trajectory, hitting the base of his slightly injured tail, and forced him to tumble away on the ground.

Speedily, she charged an Energy Ball and fired it directly at the Riolu!

“Time to end this!” Yuri yelled as he swung his left paw back to slam into the downed Rhydon. However, he wasn’t counting on his Aura sensing _danger_ aiming at him right at that moment. Before he had a chance to move or glance around, he was hit from his right and blasted away from Rhydon, crashing into the ground as he tumbled and lied on his back.

 _‘Damn, why does all the bad stuff happen to me?’_ Yuri thought with a groan, feeling winded and his breath leaving him as he heaved. This situation was growing from bad to worse—these Pokémon were terribly strong. It seemed like no matter what they did, it wasn’t enough. But he couldn’t give up now! Struggling again, Yuri ignored his body’s protests of aches and rolled over on his left to stand.

Flynn was getting up slowly from being knocked aside and winced as the pain from Simisage’s attack on his tail, again, was flaring up. He saw her going for her partner and that Yuri was some distance away. His friend was having a hard time getting up like he was. Both of them looked pretty messed up from fighting and it wasn’t going well whatsoever. These Brutal Bang Gang weren’t kidding around; they seemed to do exactly as their name suggests. They were strong despite how much damage they took. How many Ginseng had they consumed, Flynn wondered.

Still, they wouldn’t— _couldn’t_ —quit! That little Pokémon was counting on them.

Speaking of, Flynn hurriedly glanced in the direction the child Pokémon had been when this whole fiasco started. The kid wasn’t there and Flynn nearly panicked until he trained his senses to catch the Pokémon’s scent. His eyes followed the hidden trail automatically and spotted the small white Pokémon hiding in the trees above them. Good, he was somewhere safe and nowhere near the fighting. If he stayed there and hid well, the bullies wouldn’t find him—at least, Flynn hoped so. Or, if the kid ran to get them help… but then again, there _were_ the Escape Orbs they had on hand.

Optionally, they could take the kid and use an Escape Orb to get out but that would only put them outside of the Oran Forest’s entrance again. They’d have to traverse back through the mystery dungeon to get to Capim Town and there was the chance they’d run into these brutes again.

Flynn was all down for helping and saving Pokémon that couldn’t fight for themselves, but he wasn’t in favor of getting beaten up for it.

“…We’re getting our asses handed to us,” Yuri’s voice suddenly drew closer. Flynn spun on his heel to see the injured Riolu being right next to him and so quickly, too. How did he? Apparently he asked this aloud and his friend chuckled—with a pained grunt in the mix.

“…I used one of those Wand things you stashed in my bag. That Pounce Wand thingy,” Yuri explained. “I knew walking over here to you would alert them, so I just grabbed a Wand and hoped it’d do something good.”

Oh, that made sense.

“I’ll agree with our asses getting kicked,” Flynn replied, keeping his gaze trained on the Simisage and Rhydon. She was currently helping him up and giving him an Oran Berry, “But we still can’t quit. We have to do something. Going one on one didn’t work well and if we tried to double team one of them, the other could surprise attack us at any moment. We’ll get crushed by them.”

“Yeah,” Yuri said with a sigh, “Damn, if I’d known they’d be this tough, I wouldn’t have jumped in so soon.” Flynn gave him a sideways glance that clearly said, “You think?” but Yuri ignored it.

“My arm’s broken. I don’t think I can use it until it heals. Hurts like hell.”

“I noticed. My tail’s busted at the base. I won’t be able to use my Iron Tail attack.”

“We need to think of something. If we stand here, we’ll be sitting ducks for them to pick us apart.” Both friends spied that Rhydon had regained his strength and the pair of crooks were locking gazes with them, “Great, here they come.”

Flynn grimaced as the two evolved Pokémon were staring them down and were likely to attack again. With their injuries, they wouldn’t survive another beating. Unless…

“Eat an Oran Berry,” Flynn instructed his friend as he dug into his bag to fetch for a round, blue berry. Hurriedly, the Pikachu popped it into his mouth, chewing it quickly. In a few seconds, he felt his energy returning and the pain in his tail was numbed for a while. Yuri copied and felt similarly restored; so long as he didn’t twist his arm, it’d be alright and he could fight with it.

“Jeez, why didn’t we think of that earlier? Would have saved us all the agony.”

“We probably couldn’t because we were engaged in battle. Brace yourself, Yuri. They’re coming!”

Indeed their opponents were and neither of them looked particularly happy. “You runts got some lucky shots in but that’ll be the last time!” Simisage shouted as she pointed at them, “Rhydon and I are going to teach you two a hard lesson you’ll never forget: Don’t _ever_ mess with the Brutal Bang Gang or you’ll regret it!”

 _‘A little part of me_ is _regretting it,’_ Yuri thought, _‘But not all of me. There’s no way I’d ever pass up an opportunity to put thugs in their place for messing with kids!’_

“You two are weak compared to other Exploration Teams! You’re nothing but chumps!” Rhydon exclaimed next, laughing, “I admit that blue one got me pretty good with that Orb, but that was only a cheap, lucky shot. Next time will be different!”

Simisage then smirked, “And I think I figured it out, too. You two aren’t even in a _real_ Exploration Team. Just a bunch of weak nobodies!”

The urge to respond back was too strong for Yuri to fight it and he caved in. “Oh, yeah? You’re the ones who _assumed_ we were an Exploration Team in the first place.”

“It’s your own fault for making that assumption,” Flynn added as icing on the top, “How dare you pick on a child?!”

“That’s none of your business, rat!”

“It _is_ my business when I make it mine.”

The Thorn Monkey glared at him as she and Rhydon prepared for another round against the two friends. “Then you’ll also regret getting involved. I’ll show you just how outmatched you really are!” She shouted, “Rhydon! Get ready!”

“Right!” The Drill Pokémon’s horn began to spin rapidly as if he were going to use it.

Soon, Simisage was zipping across the dungeon’s floor, going directly for Yuri using the move Acrobatics! Since she wasn’t holding anything, her speed was much faster and her power would increase! Yuri quickly dove out of her path as she attempted to lunge at him.

“Yuri, be careful! Acrobatics is a Flying-type move! You’ll get hurt more from it!” Flynn warned. Ah, so that’s what that move was. Flynn couldn’t provide any more information as Rhydon attempted to mow him down in the same fashion as he tried to do to Yuri. As expected, the Pikachu dodged it without much trouble.

“Pay attention, midget! I’m your opponent now!” Rhydon yelled as his fist coated with ice again for another Ice Punch! Muscles tensing, Flynn evaded by pivoting and backed up. Without his Iron Tail at full power, there was no way he could damage Rhydon’s rocky hide. Not only that, but he wouldn’t be able to use his electric attack at all. Noticing this, the dual-type smirked, “What’s the matter, Pika Pika? Not gonna try and zap me?”

“I already know that’ll fail,” Flynn replied back, narrowing his eyes as he ignored the taunt, “But that doesn’t mean I can’t hit you with something _else_!” Knowing it would reopen the wound again, the metal surface coated Flynn’s tail and he whirled around on his pivoted foot, smacking the Iron Tail right into Rhydon’s exposed midsection! Rhydon expected this attack but not so soon and was smacked backwards a ways.

Growling the Drill Pokémon lunged for Flynn, his horn drill spinning madly. “I’ll run you through!”

“Not if I can help it!”

Rhydon roared as he aimed to pierce his foe but the Pikachu nimbly dodged out of the way, rolling until he was behind Rhydon. With quick execution, Flynn rammed into Rhydon with a strong Quick Attack, even though it didn’t do much damage. All it managed to do was push him further along. Hardly a dent in that hard exterior of his! Flynn rubbed his head and tried to ignore the flaring pain in his tail again. This was going to be a long fight.

As for Yuri, he was being kept on his toes by Simisage’s speed. Sure he was pretty quick but she was taking this up a notch! “What’s the matter, runt? Can’t keep up with me?” She taunted, getting on Yuri’s nerves.

“I’ll keep up with you alright. Take this!” Yuri thrust a Force Palm out to try and stop her from zipping around him like an annoying fly using her Acrobatics technique. Simisage smirked as she easily caught his paw and then slammed a Low Kick right into his midsection, kicking him back. He anchored his feet to slide along the ground this time and just as he recovered, another Energy Ball was being launched his way. Good grief, no reprieve this time, too.

Not quite thinking but angrily desperate to do _something_ in the short span of time he had, Yuri reflexively kicked at the Energy Ball, expecting something to happen. Two things did.

One, the Energy Ball was smacked away from him, as he hoped it would.

Two, his foot was _on fire_.

Whoa!

“What the-?” Yuri wondered. He was just about to have a panic attack when he noticed he wasn’t feeling heat from it in an adverse way. No, it seemed like the fire was cloaking his foot just like Aura would with his paws when using Force Palm. Calming a little, he knew something _did_ happen.

_‘Is this… one of my new moves? Did I learn this? Or, did I already know this and discovering it again?’_

“Damn! I didn’t know the little bastard knew Blaze Kick!” Yuri heard Simisage’s furious bellow. He glanced at her and noticed that she seemed a little uneasy, given he could sense her flurry of emotions from his distance. Wait, she was getting nervous? Before he could ask himself the question of _why_ , the answer immediately came to him.

_Fire beats Grass. Fire can set grass and anything else flammable into combustible flames._

Simisage was apparently a Grass-type, Yuri assumed, and he knew a move that she disliked. Coming to this realization, it was Yuri’s turn to smirk. Oh, he was going to have a _blast_ using this technique. Time for some well-deserved payback!

“I think it’s time I teach _you_ a lesson, huh?” Yuri taunted back, throwing Simisage’s own words back at her. The Thorn Monkey Pokémon blinked and grew enraged.

“Hmph! Just because you have some fancy new technique doesn’t mean anything! I’m still stronger and faster than you. You won’t even hit me with that!”

“We’ll see about that, won’t we?”

“You’re on, runt!”

Simisage zoomed at him again, intent to putting him out before he could use this apparently named technique called Blaze Kick. Yuri’s sensors were going haywire again as he tried to train his senses to focusing on her. Aura flooded into his eyes as they took on a red hue and he braced himself for her attack. She was using Acrobatics again to gain an upper hand. He’d get in a hit, he wagered. She had seemed pretty afraid not long ago.

Sensing something coming for him from a random direction, Yuri hurried to turn that way and swing his flaming foot outward, hoping to catch her somehow. He heard a hiss but nothing that connected. Hmm, good! He almost had her.

 _‘I need to get her off me for a moment, but how?’_ he thought and marginally evaded a swipe of her claws. _‘Think, think, think! Come on, Yuri. You’ve got a brain in there somewhere. I need something to hide me or something.’_ Hide him? That gave him another idea. Quickly he reached into his bag and found the Orb he was looking for. Smiling wickedly to himself, Yuri smashed it.

…And then vanished into thin air!

Simisage, confused by his sudden disappearance, skidded to an abrupt halt and frantically began searching for him. “He disappeared!” She hissed, glaring at every which way, hoping to smell him or anything. He hadn’t used the Dig technique, so where had he gone? _‘Wait, this can’t be… an Invisify Orb?!’_ Those things were practically deadly to use considering they were ill-advised to use in a dungeon when one had multiple traveling partners or allies with them. They allies would get confused and disoriented, leaving friend and foe alike baffled. They’d wander and could be defeated by the wild and feral Pokémon in a dungeon. The Orb also concealed scents and steps of the invisible one, making them nearly ghost-like.

Thing is, the Invisify Orb wasn’t permanent which is what she was hopefully banking on to reveal the little twerp. _‘He couldn’t have gone far. His buddy is still here—unless he outright abandoned him. Heh, what irony!’_ She quickly surveyed the battle going on with Rhydon and the Pikachu. It appeared, no matter how fast the rat was, her partner had more energy thanks to the Oran Berries she gave him. The Mouse Pokémon would soon run out of energy and be ripe for the beating. It was only a matter of time!

 _‘I can always flush the little bastard out by attacking his friend. He’ll_ have _to come out sooner or later,’_ Simisage thought and followed up with that by racing towards Flynn. _‘Time to have revenge in its own way!’_

“Hey, rat! Take this!” she called out and surprised Flynn with an unsuspecting Throat Chop, which aimed directly for his throat as its namesake. Yelping, Flynn was sent back a ways and since he was too focused on gagging and struggling for air, he didn’t get a chance to defend himself for Rhydon’s upcoming attack, a Take Down! Rhydon’s body rammed into the smaller frame of the Pikachu’s, making the Electric-type bounce away like a ball. In the aftermath, his bag’s strap had snapped and fell a ways from him. He stopped after three times, struggling to even sit up.

Flynn’s body was beaten again and whatever the Oran Berry healed had been reversed in a few short minutes of another round of fighting. Adding to that, he felt he couldn’t breathe. He tried to choke down another Oran Berry, but it was fruitless.

 _‘My throat… feels like it got smashed in,’_ he thought as he gasped for air to fill his lungs, though it seemed like they refused it, _‘It hurts. Damn! Where… Where’s Yuri!?’_ He couldn’t find his elusive friend anywhere and he thought the worst had happened while he hadn’t been paying attention. Oh, no. Had Simisage… killed him?! Yes, he was strong but he was a human! They didn’t normally fight like Pokémon and he was still learning about himself!

Had he failed in helping and protecting his friend?

Angered, Flynn ignored his pain and staggered as he stood on wobbly legs, glaring at the crooks. They’d get theirs, soon! He realized he couldn’t talk due to Simisage’s nasty surprise attack but that didn’t mean he couldn’t convey his message! His cheeks sparked again, ready for that Thunderbolt he never got a chance to release earlier.

“I think he’s mad, Rhydon,” Simisage said with a heartless chuckle, “Let’s put him out of his misery!”

“Ha-ha! Good idea! Let _me_ do the honors, Simisage! If he tries to use an Electric move, I’ll absorb it!”

 _‘No… oh no!’_ The child Pokémon, still hidden and out of sight, thought with horror. His heroes… they were going to get beaten up. One of them had disappeared but he didn’t know what really happened. The Pikachu was going to get hurt or worse! No…! He couldn’t let it happen like this! They were trying so hard to fight for him, they had come to his rescue… He had to help! Scared out of his mind, the child hesitated for a long second before working the muscles in his tiny body to _move_ and rush out of the tree. He couldn’t stand there any longer!

“What the-? It’s that brat again!” Rhydon yelled as he nimbly made his way on the battleground, standing firmly in front of the Pikachu. He glared his best at the two bullies, but it was faltering with every second.

“Y-Y…You!” He tried to sound intimidating, but it wasn’t working. “L-Leave them alone! Y-Y-You bullies! G-G-Go away!”

Flynn honestly couldn’t believe his eyes. Why did the kid come back here!? He was going to get hurt!

Simisage and Rhydon both laughed heartlessly as the kid tried his best to sound threatening. It was almost cute. _Almost_. “How adorable, kid. Coming to save your rescuers? Isn’t that sad? The rescuee wants to help the ones trying to save them. Hear that, Rhydon?”

“I heard, Simisage! Ha, this is a joke. Alright, kid. You wanna play hero? Then we’ll give it to you!” Rhydon charged up again and rushed at them, aiming his next Take Down attack at the little one! The aforementioned yelped and cowered in fear, trying to curl up into himself in fright.

‘ _No!’_ Flynn thought in panic. Ignoring his wounds and his pain, he didn’t think but acted: he launched himself in the warpath of the devastating move and took the brunt of the attack for the child Pokémon. Flynn groaned and cried in agony as he was tossed aside, Rhydon’s body having slammed into him a second time having done its damage this time. He could barely move, feeling exhausted and too hurt to try.

“Yeah, score!” Rhydon guffawed loudly.

The kid Pokémon glanced up, having seen what happened in horrified slow motion. Quick to his feet, he ran towards the downed Pikachu and tried to shake him awake.

“Mr. Pikachu… please! Please!” he wailed, afraid of the Pokémon dying on him. It wasn’t fair! He had helped him and all he’d done was make it worse! Tears streaked down his face as the Pikachu opened his eyes weakly and glanced towards him. He smiled a little, apparently okay that he was okay. But… but no! This shouldn’t be!

 _‘The kid’s alright… T-That’s good…’_ Flynn thought, _‘I can barely move… My energy’s about to be exhausted and my bag… is too far away to use a Reviver Seed… I might faint here. D-Damn…’_

Feeling his energy nearly leaving him, Flynn tried to get his message to the kid Pokémon, now that he got a closer look at—was a Pachirisu—across by trying to nudge him to run. He needed to run away. If these crooks defeated Yuri and would now defeat him, the child was in danger again. He _had_ to run away while he had a chance.

…And Flynn, he knew, he was the last line of defense and had to make a last stand to ensure the child did run.

“…G-G…Go,” Flynn managed to say with a strained voice. His throat felt like it was on fire just by forcing it out. It took everything in him to roll over and attempt to stand. He felt so weak and he didn’t think he’d last. He couldn’t see Yuri’s form anywhere and this innocent child…

…reminded him of himself. The fear in his eyes was far too reminiscent. Flynn wasn’t sure why, but he _had_ to keep fighting. To protect the kid.

Shakily, the Pikachu stood on staggering feet, using his good arm to push the Pachirisu child behind him in a protective manner. Fueling what energy he did have left went directly to his tail, coating it in metal again as Iron Tail was active. This was his last chance—his Wish ability wouldn’t do much for him right now since he was too exhausted. Deep down, he could feel and hear himself speaking to him, but he wasn’t sure why…

_Flynn…_

_Flynn… Sci…_

_…Wake…_

_You need… to wake._

**_Wake._ **

The voice of that image came back to him, causing him slight panic. No, he had to focus! He couldn’t dwell on that right now; the Pachirisu needed him to protect him!

“Aww, look at that, Simisage. He’s still with us! Guess I’ll play with him again _and_ the brat,” Rhydon chuckled.

“Just hurry and finish them off,” she said, already getting bored. She still couldn’t find that damned Riolu. Maybe he did really run off. Was it in fear of them? If so, good. The little hypocrite would only return to find his friend defeated and all his goods stolen by them, too. It was only his fault for fleeing and saving himself. What a coward.

“With pleasure! I’ll hit them with my Magnitude!”

Uh-oh.

Flynn grimaced hearing that. Magnitude was a Ground-type move and super effective against Electric-types like himself and Pachirisu. It would deal massive damage as Magnitude was also the same type as Rhydon, which would give it an additional damage increase. Flynn knew he’d be done for if the Rhydon managed to strike a magnitude of six or above. All he had was his Iron Tail and that wouldn’t do anything helpful. Ground-types have an advantage over Steel-types, in which his Iron Tail is a typing of. All he could do was brace himself for the inevitable impact. Flynn shut his eyes for a moment and waited.

_‘Yuri, I’m so sorry…’_

Rhydon was laughing as he prepared to stomp the ground and level a powerful Magnitude at the small shrimps when all of a sudden… he spotted the Pikachu and Pachirisu looking up at him—but their eyes were widening. Then, out of nowhere, he heard a shriek behind him followed by a burning blast of flames!

It was _Simisage’s_ shriek!

Whirling around, Rhydon saw that Simisage was down and hurt badly. The space around her was lit with tiny flames dancing around her frame. The culprit… was none other than the Riolu! What!? Where had he come from? The dark crimson in the Fighting-type’s eyes promised pain and retribution as he glared at the Drill Pokémon. Upon seeing him, Flynn was elated and Pachirisu smiled as his other hero had come back!

“Y-Y-Yu…” Flynn tried to say but it was futile due to his injuries. However, the Riolu hardly glanced in his direction, focusing on their foes instead.

“You’ve hurt someone I care about, now I’ve returned the favor,” Yuri said coldly, his foot still aflame and his Aura spiking erratically and dangerously. His Aura pulsed around him like a flare, and there seemed to be a strange, hypnotic look in the Riolu’s eyes. He seemed… possessed.

This look scared Flynn as his elation deflated almost instantly. What’s going on?

Having long since ignored his injuries, Yuri got into a stance and leered at Rhydon, “It’s time for you and me to fight.” Flynn had a feeling something bad was going to happen, disbelieving what he was seeing in front of him.

_Yuri… What happened to you?_

**Author's Note:**

> Eyy, not too sorry for this cliffhanger. Necessary and needed to build up momentum. It'll get resolved in the next one, don't worry.
> 
> Hope you've enjoyed.


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